Small tropical garden 20sqft makeover with 10 Pro Gardening Tips

Hi everyone, my name is Irene and welcome to my channel Leafing Around where we talk all about tropical plants and tropical gardens. In this episode, it is very much triggered by someone wanting to visit my garden tomorrow so I have to transform this space that I have. This is a planter area that I've put up for about three months now and I haven't gotten around to planting stuff on it. So some might say I have a really nice garden already but let me tell you there is always something to do and the fastest way for me to get anything done is always to invite someone to visit me. Then I really got to get it done. So this person is visiting me tomorrow afternoon and let's get started. So this is the planter area that I'm talking about. It has currently a huge bird nest fern on it. It's beautiful. Look at them. They are all putting up new fronts now. But apart from that, it's rather empty. So let's think what to put in here. Before we even start planting, we have to think about the hardscaping. So I want to think about what else I want to put in here and in fact, very closely tied to that is what junk do I want to get rid of that might look good here. So I have got a piece of wooden fence. This is something that I had before and then when I renovated the upstairs garden to put in the stairs, this became redundant. So I'm now very pleased that I could reuse this somewhere else. Because we're going to put that wooden fence, which is pretty heavy, we won't want to have it sitting in just soil. So I'm going to put some blocks so that it has a more solid, hardy surface to sit on. Okay. My shoe. Use my shoe. Yeah, okay. So this is your foundation. And then I layer more bricks on top and the reason I'm doing this before I put the wood is so that the termites won't be in touch with the soil where they can then assess the wood easily. I've learned my mistake that way. There you go. Okay. So now I think we're ready to put that wooden fence on. So I found free labor here. Yeah. He's a strong man. It's quite handy sometimes to have around. Good. Very good. I knew it's handy marrying this guy. Good, good job. Good job. Thanks. Thank you. You can go back, wash your car now. Yeah. So this is what it looks like. This fence is sitting on some bricks. Looking good. Next, we want to make sure we've got the right potting mix inside. So I'm thinking of putting some aroids in this planter. And so I want it to be very well draining sort of mix. And as this is quite a huge area, so I'm filling up the bottom with kind of rubbish if you like. So these are leftover construction material. These are broken terracotta pots. You could tuck in sticks and whatever. And then I would fill it up as my first layer. And after that, pumice. So these are large ones to help give it better drainage too. And I also stick in some charcoal bits. Then we mix them up real good. Nice. Next, we go around looking for homeless plants. Plants that haven't found their forever home. I don't know if you're like me, but I have a problem committing plants to a permanent space. So I still have a lot of them in the pot like this huge monstera. So I think this could go in the planter. And then this was called a philodendron goldii. I think today it is a tomatophyllum. I hope I said that correctly, but it's pretty huge too. And yes, let's find it a permanent home. Then we try to take the plant out from the pot. Eww. I don't want to disturb the roots too much and I don't want to put my hand in it. Okay. I'm going to pour the plant into the planter box. Oh my God. Okay. We have one plant in my space. Oh my God. Ow. It's really difficult to do this and film at the same time because you get to see all my mistakes. Okay. So you should have made room for the pot before you bring the plants here. I feel like maybe this is sufficiently roomy by now. I'm going to take my pot of monstera. Check out the beautiful roots in this. Okay. Um. Ah. All right. Not too bad. Okay. Now I just got to cover this all on top with the stuff that I took out before. So now we put this baby in. Any root rot? No. Very good. Okay. Oh my God. It's circular. It's hitting the back. Goodness. It's filling up the entire planter box. Okay. All right. It is what it is. This one is heavy. I think it's in muddy soil. But at this stage, I can't be bothered taking out the muddy soil. It seems happy in it. So I feel like this is maybe a little too low and too spready, outy, and getting into the footpath. And it's kind of dark now. It's 7. I'm going to call it a day and continue tomorrow. I'm going to sleep on it to consider whether I'm going to elevate this. Yeah. Hi everyone. This is the next day at about 9 a.m. now and I've just had my coffee. So last night, this plant appeared to me in my dream. This plant formerly known as the Philodendron godii and now called the Tomatophyllum sprucianum. It is not happy here. It says it doesn't want to stay in this planter because look at its glorious circular nature. So it needs a lot of space, space to grow in all directions. And this place doesn't provide it. So I'm going to listen to my plant and not put it in the planter for now or forever. And this plant also called out to me last night as I was sleeping. It says, please, please take me out from my muddy clay-like soil, which I was too lazy to do yesterday because it was getting dark and I wanted to film this as quick as possible. But okay, I hear you. So I will just loosen part of its soil, not everything so that it doesn't get too traumatized. Okay, so I think I removed about half of the soil and you see that I think some of the roots are dead. So I'm going to remove the dead roots since I'm going to be plonking in there for a long time and probably never put it out again. So I just cut myself. So when you hold the scissors, make sure you don't put your thumb here like I just did. So instead of continuing to film, I thought I better take care of my cut and wound. So I just put the plaster on, hurts a little bit, but not too bad. Okay, now, so anything that's soft can go away. So you see the healthy roots are like quite white looking and then this one, it's not good anymore. So let's get rid of it. There is quite a lot. It smells fine, so nothing's rotting. That's good. So after forever, I think we got pretty much most of it out. And as you could see, hopefully you could see more of healthy, nice white roots. So healthy roots, healthy plant. So I advise you if you're potting or pulling out your plants from its pot, you should really take a look at the roots and then do the necessary maintenance. And the amount of root that I've cut off, let me show you. So these are the roots that I've taken out. I want to show you what they look like so you could recognize them. They're usually like really limp looking and hollow on the inside. So when you squish on it, there's like nothingness. And so these roots, you want to get rid of them because they're not going to be doing any good sitting in your pot or your potting media. They would just rot and then it will attract bacteria and all sorts of problems. So yes, best thing to do is just chuck them away. So I will now take this out and then leave it here for a while. Oh, ouch, I shouldn't have whacked it so hard on the spade, sorry. And then go get another plant to replace the one I just took out. So I think, oh yeah, yes, this one. We're going to try on with this. Notice that I am selecting pretty large plants because I have anchored this with my bird nest fern, which is huge. And if I start putting really tiny plants, I'm afraid it could be really out of proportion. So this is another fairly biggish plant that I have. It's a philodendron of sort, and I have no idea what philodendron it is. If you know, please do let me know in the comments. So now we're going to have to take it out of the pot. Oh, beautiful and so easy too, I love it. Great. And nothing seems to be rotting. That's good. I don't have to do all the work of removing dead roots. OK, so let me just make a little hole here so I could plonk it in. I've decided that maybe this philodendron, I should push it more to the back because it will climb up and then it might as well just climb out on this, giving me more room to put something else in front. I'm now thinking to put a bit more kind of climb bee plants underneath the wood so that in months to come and years to come, they would make their way up and imagine how nice that could look. So I have now found this pot, which I have meant to put up against a tree for the longest time and I haven't, so this project is great. It makes me give these plants a permanent home. So this is a raffiodora foraminifera or megasperma, I'm not very sure. And it's got these nice lovely holes, I love them so much and I'm just going to put them here now. I hope I could take it out of the pot easily. You should never, never step on your soil, then you will be compacting it, so don't do what I just did. Okay, so I've got that raffiodora climbing, well not quite climbing, but at least ground it close to this plant so that it can climb. Next I'm going to try ground some alocasia. If you've seen my video, two videos ago with Mr Lone Wong, he is quite the expert in alocasia growing. He highly recommends grounding the alocasia if your climate allows it because it really, they're just happier there compared to the pots. So I do have a lot of alocasia in pots and this solves two problems. I need to have something and then they need to get out of their pots. So starting with this, and so let's try to take them off. Always avoid pulling out the plant from your pot, rather I just like to prefer to tilt them out. And they're so chunky, I think I would just do it straight into the planter box here because everything is just going to fall out. I have a bit of a problem here because in my wisdom, I grew them in a net pot and the net pot have so much holes that I put mosquito net all around it. And now the lovely roots have wrapped themselves all around my mosquito net, so bear with me a moment while I try to unravel the roots. I feel like I'm performing surgery. So the lesson here is, yes, the mosquito net is good so that your potting mix don't fall out, but it's a real pain if you have to remove it. And why am I removing it instead of leaving it in there? Because I feel the roots will probably get bigger and then the holes in the mosquito net is going to kind of maybe restrict them. Yay, freedom, freedom from mosquito net. Yay. Okay, good. Very good. Look at that healthy, healthy roots. When it came, it didn't have any roots at all. So where I'm going to have my alocasia, I'm going to put a bit more pumice and make it chunkier also to keep them very, very well drained. As you know, they are pretty fussy and they could go asleep any time. Okay, I'm going to get more alocasia. Okay, this one, this one. Okay, let's see how it look here. And then what else? I have more. Oh yeah, the pink dragon. So this is my pink dragon and I put it in a net pot thinking it will really enjoy the extra breeze and be able to breathe. I've got a little baby, yay. So let's just see how they look altogether before I take the trouble to take them out. Looks good. And then I believe they will grow much bigger after being grounded. So let's put them here. Oh, let me just show you, you know, root porn. So we've got big, thick roots and little tiny ones that draws nutrients. I've got it in a mix of perlite, pumice, pine bark, and even this squishy, spongy thing called puff call, which I found here. This is the puff call, which I found really great in rooting things. What is that? Oh, could that be a bulb I just threw away? I'll look for it later. And okay, good. Oh, the roots. We need to be gentle with the roots. I'm just going to use a lot of pumice because they're very good not only for drainage, adding oxygen, but also they have much better water retention properties compared to perlite. So this one, which we have painstakingly taken out the dead roots, I was going to put it in here, but I feel like it's now too large and overwhelming the alocasia, which is going to grow big and tall, and maybe this is no longer appropriate for here. So it is okay when you're doing the project to change your mind and do what's best. And then you have to be bold enough to admit that this was a mistake. So let's find another alocasia to fit in there because I feel like I've got a lot of alocasia now and another alocasia would fit better in here. I have another pot here, which is the alocasia zebrina, well known for its beautiful, beautiful stalk, reminding you of a zebra. I think it's from the Philippines, endemic to Philippines. So you've got great alocasia in the Philippines. So I'm just going to tilt over now. I was very wise, I've put it in a chunky mix, very good. Okay. So I think maybe like this and then fill the rest with more pumice. So what I did there was to secure the top of that wooden frame, tie it with rope to the railing so that it wouldn't fall on me. I hope that works. I've secured it in three different spots. Now we have put up this wooden vertical thing and let's put plants on it now. So I'm thinking something that trails down would look good. Some fern splotches, I'm going to try to use what I already have and then let's see how that goes. I'll start off with this Philodendron Brazil, which I've nicked off my other vertical wall and see how that goes. So this is fairly long and Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair. Okay. And then I have this fern thing, which maybe I will hang in the middle. Okay, good. And then I have some, what else that I have, um, you know, you know what, I think I'm going to have to meet some focal plants. If you have watched my vertical garden design video, I have talked a lot about putting in some feature focal plant in whatever area that you want to make. And I'm starting to think something that would be colorful, that could pop from there would be very nice. I have used Vermilion for my other wall and I want to try to do something different here. I think I'm going to have to do some plant shopping, so wait a minute. I have to go to the nursery right now and see what speaks to me and I'll come back with some beautiful focal point plants for us. I'm hoping to find an orchid. So I'm very excited. I have found what I wanted. One, two, three. Perfect. Oh yeah. Eye candy. Have a look. With orchids. So I think this is called the Vanda orchids and they have beautiful, huge blooms. Now, I know nothing about orchids. I bought them because they are in bloom right now and I think they would look really good on the wall. Plus, they have these beautiful roots. Can you see them? They're so gorgeous. I think it's a statement piece on its own. Just the roots. I asked the seller, is this easy to take care of? And she said, yes. And then, will they flower all year round? And she said, yes. And therefore, I bought them. If you know anything about orchids and how to take care of these Vanda orchids, please let me know. I just want to let you have a good look at it. It's so beautiful. I mean, with the plant rage now on arrows, I think orchids have missed out. They are not trending, you could say. So, this is a really good time maybe to buy them because they're still really affordable. And if you could see the roots, they are in absolutely no media at all. I am really amazed. So, let's put it up now. Damn, not tall enough. I've put the orchids quite closely together in a clustered way because I wanted the blooms to be kind of not too far apart. And I do hope the orchids like to be closely huddling together. If you do know more about the behavior or what these orchids like, do let me know in the comments below. And while I was shopping in the nursery, of course, I did not just buy tree plants. Oh yeah, I forgot to say this. Tree, why did I just buy? Why did I use tree and not two or four? So, the details of it is in the video up here. But just a quick recap. So, this is about the rule of odd. It is much better to have an odd number of things compared to an even number of things. This is for landscaping purpose or even when you are composing an image for photography. So, the rule of odds. Just remember, if you're buying plants, don't get two, get three. Don't get four, get five instead. And to know more, watch this video here. And of course, I didn't just buy these tree orchids. I bought more and I'm looking for it. Ah, it's here. Okay, so I bought this spectacular looking orchids. I just feel like it's really out of this world. I love it for the root system. I'm not quite an orchid person, but I think I just started with this trip to the nursery. And I felt like it looks awesome. I believe one day it will bloom and reward me with flowers one day. So, I will place that here just to give it an even more chaotic look. What else do we have? Also, this orchid. This is called the dendrobium farmeri. And I know this because it's written right here at the back. So, let's find a place for it too. Maybe like here? I don't know what the hell this is, but it's an orchid and it has no leaves. But I'm assured that this will flower one day even if it's a plant that has no leaves. Oh, look. Yes, look. Proof here. It has a flower. Can you see the flower? So, this is a very weird plant that has only roots and flowers and no leaves. Go here. So, I managed to find this Hypersia gobelii, maybe. And I think it will look good here where I have placed this odd-looking orchid. So, I'm just going to take it off. So, this is quite trial and error, experimental. I did say in my previous video to design everything and then implement it. But I think in real life, you could only plan so far. And in this case, I did not practice what I preached. I did not plan very well. I just kind of started to take out plants from other parts of my garden for here. Okay, so I'm going to put this here. Okay, that will do for now. It's going to grow longer and it needs to go up further. But for now, this will have to do. And then this, I've removed and draped it here in the meantime. And this could come out too. You know, just go with the flow. Be creative. Make changes as necessary. So, I think this vertical thing is kind of done. But how about the overall feel of it? What do you think? I think we're missing something of this height. Kind of over here. What shall I use? Ah, you know that Philodendron goldii, now known as Tomatophyllum sprucianum? The one that I had there originally and that was just too much for it. I think I'm going to try elevate this and somehow put it over there. So, because it's going up there, I have changed it into a white pot. So that it could camouflage with my white wall. So, let's give it a go. And to secure this pot, I'm going to tie it with string. So, I'm eager to see how it looks. Not bad, I would say. It looks pretty jungly here now. So, are we done? I think maybe a little bit more things at the bottom. Now, I do have a fern tree here that I want to push closer to this. Because I've asked you for your ideas. And some of you said that a fern tree would look really nice here. So, I'm going to attempt this. Oh my god. Okay, I think this is the best. I could push it as close as possible without toppling over everything. I'm just going to put all my previous plants back. This elbow, I think I will make it climb this tree one day when I have the time. This is a variegated peace lily. This is Aurea of Sword. Some Philodendron. Some random dead plants that I hope to still revive. I have this beautiful orchid. I also bought it yesterday. And maybe it could grow here. The pot is too big. Okay, that will do for now. Nice. So, after all that hard work of pushing my fern tree towards here. I realized in the footage you can't actually see the tree. So, I'd like you to look up here. And this is the fern tree that I'm talking about. So, it is rather high. Kind of out of your eyes view actually. And so, I'm thinking this part here is still looking pretty empty. And I have another fern tree. So, I'm just going to bring that here. This is another fern tree I have lying around in the house. Still in the polybag. It's been in the polybag for I think 8 months now. I should really take it out of the polybag but I haven't. I think that's good. This is my eye level fern tree. And then there is underneath a big mama fan fern tree. And it kind of just gives me an instant feel of this space which we have a gap here. Ta-da! This is done. This is my favorite part. So, I hope you like it. I hope you've enjoyed this makeover. And if you do, please consider subscribing and sharing it out with all your friends and families. In the meantime, if you'd like to support me and my channel. You can do so by buying me coffee at the link down below. And until my next video. I bid you selamat tinggal. Adios. Bye.